Brown Haired Female Mesmer with a Sword?

Hey, Ive been playing GW for about 2 weeks, and I have seen several pictures of this mesmer weilding a sword which looks like a sword used in fencing. Theres a picture on page 28 og the guildwars prima guide. Does anyone know if this is just a pre development picture or there is an actual item ingame. Thanks!

Any character can use any weapon. In the case of a Mesmer using a sword, they have a skill called Illusionary Weapon that works quite well in melee combat. The prima guide describes it this way:
"For 30 seconds, you deal no damage in melee, but whenever you attack in melee, target foe takes 8 - 40 damage." Of course, the actual numbers may have changed since the book came out, but you get the idea.

As for the sword itself, I've never seen one like it in-game.

I know a Me/Warrior can use a sword, but this particular sword shown seems like a sword a mesmer would use. More..Elegant looking I suppose. Illusionary weaponry does not create a weapon oyu can see ingame does it?

No thats why its called Illusionary Weapon... its not there but it is in your mind... muahahahahaha

Was the sword in question a Jitte?

Nope, it's more of a rapier - but the jitte is a very light weapon. =)

Illusionary Weapon (Elite) uses a lot of the stats from the weapon you're wielding though. Most use swords with it as they attack faster. The damage of the weapon is replaced with IW's damage.

That said, I haven't seen the sword in question myself yet.

Swords and axes have the same attack speed.

You are not actually hitting with the weapon so no effects on the sword will affect the enemy, such as physical or elemental damage, etc.

Things like +5 energy, +5 armor, etc would still be in effect.

You are looking at a concept art of a mesmer wielding a rapier. There is no rapier as an item in the game, although you can create a mesmer and use a variety of swords. There are many, many different looks on swords in the game (just not a rapier), and you may find another one of your liking. If you are looking at swords suggest elegance and finesse, there aren't many. The jitte, katana, and shinobi blade that you can find in chapter 2 come to mind. They are all larger than a rapier though. You aren't the first person to ask for the rapier in the concept art. If I absolutely had to pick one that exists in gameas a current replacement, I'd look for a shinobi blade.

it's most likely a Katana. Craftable at some vendors.

http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Image:Katana.jpg